What did we find out?

We discovered that when our friends wore nose plugs, they could correctly identify flavors like salty, sweet and sour. A few people could even pick out certain flavors like the mint and cinnamon. When the tasters took off the nose plugs, many reported that the flavors were stronger and more of them recognized things like the salsa or the peanuts. By studying a computer image of the mouth and nose, we found that there is a passage from the back of the mouth to the nose. This is how flavors like minty or spicy reached some of the tasters' noses, even when they wore nose plugs. more...